Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
I’d almost lost that control during our first scene when she stared up at me with those golden, glazed eyes, locking me in place and kissing me. When the mouth I’d stared at for weeks touched mine, when her hand reached for my belt, I forgot everything but wanting more. I forgot my plan to take it slow. I forgot my plan to create a barrier of distance by not kissing her. Something inside me warned it would be too intimate, and I’d been right. As soon as our lips collided, all I wanted was more, more, more. More beyond the scene I planned. More beyond making her come. Just…more.
So, without any thought, I took it.
I took everything I wanted until it burned into desperate need that had me losing control. My plan vanished, taking my common sense with it. Hell, I had been so consumed by need that I forgot to use a fucking condom. Something I swore I wouldn’t do after Daria. The desire to be inside Aspen tore through my barriers and left me exposed.
After feeling the pleasure of fucking her raw and coming inside her, I wanted to remain pressed to her and soak it all in until we could start over again.
Thank god Shiloh had interrupted when she did, giving me the reality check I needed. Giving me the opportunity to get my shit together and build my barriers back stronger than before.
Ever since, I held my desires on a tighter leash, remembering to never lose myself to a woman—not even one as alluring as Aspen.
Felix sat back against the booth with a sigh and reached for his steaming cup.
“Hitting the hard stuff today?” I joked.
“Oh, yes.” He laughed, setting his cup down with a slight tremble. “I’m living on the wild side with this ginger tea. I even had them add a pinch of cinnamon as well.”
I laughed with him, but each vibration of my chest hit more like a sledgehammer breaking something from the inside out. Felix had ginger tea to help with the nausea, which rarely happened before the evening after the day wore him down.
It wasn’t even noon yet.
The concern from earlier rushed back, pressing in too hard. My lungs struggled to expand, and my vision swayed.
“Would you like a drink, sir?” the waiter asked.
I blinked, breaking through the wave of doubt crashing over me, and took a deep breath. “A coffee, please.” Shaking off the rampant thoughts, I diverted to an easier topic. “So, where’s Grace today?”
“At another one of her charity board meetings, I suppose. I can never keep up with that one. Even after all these years.”
“Yeah, I remembered how busy Mom used to get with her charity boards too.”
Felix pointed his finger with a nod. “Exactly. And us men support it in the best way we know how—by hanging on their arms at every single event, even if we have to grit our way through it.”
“Dad always groaned when Mom would add another party to the calendar.”
Felix laughed. “Dominic would have hung on your mom’s arm to the gates of hell if it meant he got to spend a second more with her.”
I smiled, but dropped my gaze to the table. Even after all these years, I missed them.
“Their love for one another was the thing Grace noticed first about your parents,” Felix began down memory lane. “She said it’s the kind of love everyone should have, and you were a lucky boy to have witnessed it.”
I scoffed, dragging my thumb along the smooth, linen-covered edge of the table. “Too bad witnessing it didn’t set me up to recognize that the love I thought I had was actually a ruse set up to fuck me over.”
“I have to say, Lucian,” Felix started after a heavy sigh. The darker edge to his tone pulled my attention back to find pursed lips and irritation. “I would never admit this to Grace, but if I could, I would pull every string possible to ruin Daria’s name in our social circles. She doesn’t deserve the life she has after what she did to you.” He threw his hands up in surrender. “But your godmother is all about forgiveness and being kind. So, I usually nod and smile instead of saying what I truly want to happen to that woman.”
Felix stayed silent for the most part whenever Daria came up. I assumed it was because he agreed with Grace and let her do all the talking. So, to find out that he didn’t sent a ripple of thoughts through my mind, opening doors to ideas that I’d written off before.
If Felix understood my resentment, then maybe he agreed with more than I assumed, and he just needed a way to express it.
Maybe all he needed was an opening to relieve me of my promise to marry and then I wouldn’t have to lie anymore.